Biochemical and Cellular Events in Spinal Cord Injury: From Pathophysiology to Treatment

No definite treatment has been reported thus far for spinal cord injuries (SCI) that is mainly due to its complex nature and pathophysiology, specifically in chronic stages of the disease. The disease imposes lots of financial and psychological costs to the families and society. From pathophysiological aspects, the disease can be divided into two phases of primary and secondary injuries. The primary damage begins with an initial lesion which -during a series of secondary molecular events in the form of a cascade- produces a large cavity in the initial damaged area called glial scar. The glial scar creates a physical and chemical barrier against repairing the injured spinal cord. In fact, there are many barriers against recovery of neurons that regenerative treatment strategies have to overcome. Many of methods suggested to cure SCI have been shown to be successful in vitro and pre-clinical studies, and have not reached clinical trial phases. This review study provides some of the latest strategies shown to be effective for treatment of SCI.